Xiang Ji’s Bookshelf

The FT and Bloomberg reported over the weekend that Bank of America/Merrill Lynch has become the biggest wealth manager.

What? Since January when Morgan Stanley and Citi’s Smith Barney were merged, the new JV has been the biggest wealth manager. The source of this apparent OLD news is a research firm in the UK who based their rankings on end of 2008 asset under management. Oh…we all know news can be recycled but shouldn’t this important fact be at least acknowledged?

Learn from Mr. Soros’ wisdom while we can:

China’s Central Bank’s release of the Financial Stability Report 2008 points out why short-selling is something good for all markets. 1, its price discovery function; 2, it improves market liquidity; 3, it provides another tool of hedging risk (open to debate). You can download the report here (it’s 42.5MB! and in Chinese).

This is really old but hilarious. God bless you and god bless America.

In the competitive world of journalism, grand names mean better sources and better accessibility. But that’s not always true. In this case, Reuters kicked the New
York Times‘ S – the NYT asked a question that Reuters answered almost one month ago. You wonder how could NYT run a story so poorly informed? It also shows that in the age of Internet Twitter Iphones, people are not always better informed.

Large colorful photos of 55-year-old Prince Alwaleed poses with black and white horses, dealbreaker posts.

June 25, 2009

5ish PM: read on twitter breaking_news that MJ is in hospital
6ish PM: heard a guy saying “apparently MJ is dead, Pete just sent me a message” on way to subway around Union Square. Thought he got it wrong. MJ is in hospital, not dead!
6ish PM: in mall. A friend called and said MJ is dead. Disbelief.
7ish PM: saw huge photo and obit on wsj.com and nyt.com. can’t read it so late in the night. Skip to gossip news elsewhere.

June 26, 2009

7ish AM: radio woke me up with King of Pop!! Recalled the time when I watched MJ’s MTV playing on a giant TV in front of a mall, among somewhat shocked crowds (MJ was grabbing his PP). I was in high school and sang his peace song.

Learn from this video what questions you should not ask:

Just finished Peterson’s book. See here a quick takeaway.

Overdue Obituaries for what we have lost in the past year. Part I:

March 17, 2008 – Bear Stearns Co. Inc., the smallest of the five big investment banks, died today after being acquired by JP Morgan Chase. He was 85 years old.

His death marks the end of an incredible journey of a firm known for its aggressive culture. From its founding in 1923, Bear Stearns has nurtured many ambitious PhDs, as in Poor, Hungry, and Driven. Its culture contrasts with other button-down Wall Street firms, where pedigree is deemed paramount.

Bear Stearns started as an equity-trading house with $500,000 capital. The firms businesses later expanded into wealth management and clearing, but its primary business remained in capital markets. This business division, which encompasses equities, fixed income and investment banking, accounted 80 percent of net revenue in 2006. The firm became public in 1985, and employed more than 15,000 people.

In July 2007, two Bear Stearns hedge funds that invested in risky debt instruments collapsed. This event is widely recognized as the beginning of the 2008 financial tsunami that sank some of the grandest names on Wall Street. As the credit markets deteriorated, rumors of Bear Stearns’ financial health shook investors’ confidence and the company’s stock lost almost half its value. It culminated in a government-brokered takeover by J.P.Morgan amid unprecedented panic in the market place.

Bear Stearns is now a division of J.P.Morgan Chase that focuses on serving high net-worth individuals. Other parts of the businesses have been absorbed into the parent firm. It is expected that the name, Bear Stearns, will be dropped off the brand eventually.

(Part II and Part III to follow)